1. Your photos
When you choose or drop a photo, your browser reads it and removes the metadata on your own device. The original file, the cleaned file and the list of what was found are kept only in your browser's memory. They are never uploaded to, stored on, or transmitted through our servers or anyone else's. Closing or reloading the tab discards them.
You can check this yourself: load the page, turn off your internet connection, and clean a photo. It still works.
2. What our hosting provider records
Like any website, the server that delivers our pages receives standard technical information with each request: your IP address, browser user agent, the page or file requested, the referring page and the time. Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, Inc., processes this information to deliver the site and protect it from abuse, and keeps it for a limited period under its privacy policy. We do not combine it with anything else or use it to identify you.
3. Third-party requests
Our pages load typefaces from Google Fonts. When your browser fetches them, Google receives your IP address and user agent. Google describes how it handles this data in its privacy policy. No photo or photo data is ever sent with these requests.
We do not use third-party analytics, advertising, social media pixels or session-recording tools. If that changes, we will update this policy before it does.
4. Anonymous usage counts
To know whether the tool is useful, our own server keeps one row of totals per day: how many photos were cleaned, how many batches, how many visits used the tool, how many of those were repeat visits, and how many photos fell into each result type (AI-related metadata, edit history, other metadata, already clean).
After you clean a batch, the page sends only those numbers. It never sends file names, photo contents, metadata values, or any identifier. To tell a repeat visit apart, your browser stores the date you first used the tool (metaclean_first_seen) and sends only a yes/no flag. If your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, nothing is sent at all.
5. Email sign-up
If you ask to be told when HEIC or video support or larger batches arrive, we store your email address, what you asked about and when. We use it only to send that one announcement, then delete it or ask whether you want to stay on a list. We never sell or share it. You can ask us to delete it at any time.
6. If you buy Pro
Pro is sold through Waffo, which acts as the merchant of record: it is the seller on your receipt, processes your payment details, email and billing address, and handles tax and refunds under its own privacy policy. We never see your card details.
On our side, starting a checkout creates a random session identifier (we store only a one-way hash of it) and an order record: amount, currency, status, timestamps, Waffo's order ID and your licence key. Waffo tells us when a payment completes or is refunded. We use this only to deliver and verify your licence, prevent duplicate charges and handle refunds, and keep it as long as needed for those purposes and for legal and tax records.
7. Cookies and local storage
Browsing and cleaning photos sets no cookies. If you start buying Pro, we set one strictly necessary cookie, metaclean_session, so the checkout and your order belong to your browser. It is HttpOnly, is not used for tracking, and expires after a year.
Your browser's local storage keeps: your light/dark choice (theme); the date you first used the tool (metaclean_first_seen, see section 4); and, if you have Pro, your licence key (metaclean_license), which the page sends to our server only to check that it is still valid. You can clear them in your browser settings at any time.
8. Children
The Service is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. The photo tool collects no personal information; contact us if you have concerns.
9. Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the EU and UK, or the CCPA in California), you may have rights to access, correct or delete personal data about you, and to object to its processing. We hold no account data and no photo data. We may hold your email (if you signed up for an announcement) and an order record (if you bought Pro). For these or for server logs, contact us and we will help, including by passing your request to our hosting provider where needed. We do not sell or share personal information.
10. Changes
If we change how the site handles data, we will update this page and the "Last updated" date before the change takes effect.
11. Contact
WipeTag · support@wipetag.com